Illegal immigrants hoping to enter the UK from Calais could start targeting tourists rather than just lorry drivers, a Eurotunnel chief has warned.
Until now the migrant crisis at the French port has been confined mainly to truck drivers and the import industry, Eurotunnel public affairs director John Keefe has told the House of Commons Home Affairs Committee.
Speaking to MPs today, Mr Keefe said: "The crisis could potentially get even worse. As we approach winter, it could start to overlap on to the passenger market."
He said that, with the holiday season coming, there would be longer queues of static traffic as people waited to board the Channel Tunnel shuttle trains.
Adding: "The slower the flows of traffic through the border, the more opportunity there is for migrants to jump on to vehicles."
The Road Haulage Association's international affairs head Peter Cullum and the UK Chamber of Shipping's head of taxation, ferry and cruise Tim Reardon also told MPs that they regarded Calais as being in crisis due to the migrant problem.
Mr Cullum said the problem should have been sorted out years ago, while Mr Reardon said Calais was now regarded not as a port and a place to do business but as "a place where there is a problem with migrants".
Mr Keefe said migrants were lving in "appalling conditions" in Calais, adding: "I have heard people say they [the Calais camps] are among the worst refugee camps in the world."
Asked about the Government's goal of re-introducing full exit checks on those leaving the UK by the end of this Parliament, Mr Keefe said Eurotunnel still had a number of concerns about how such checks could be implemented.
He said the company was in discussions with the Border Force and with the Home Office.
